"D" Rating by Robert W. Hammerle

Every director, no matter how talented, is going to come up with a dry hole sooner or later. The acclaimed director Fernando Meirelles proves he is mortal by following up his first two critically acclaimed films, "City of God" (2003) and "The Constant Gardner" (2005), with the excruciatingly tedious "Blindness."

While "Blindness" begins with a bit of genuine intrigue, it soon becomes tragically apparent that this is a movie going nowhere. To put it another way, it has roughly the same emotional impact that you get when you are forced to look at a friend's vacation photos.

In a nutshell, isolated people suddenly start to go blind in an unnamed urban setting. Reacting with understandable panic, the government takes steps to quarantine the victims.

One of them, an ophthalmologist played by Mark Ruffalo as if he has taken Quaaludes for the first time, is accompanied by his loyal wife, the only person who has retained her vision. Played by the marvelous Julianne Moore, she is by far and away the most interesting person in this bland film, largely because she is the only one who isn't ridiculously one-dimensional.

Whatever mild interest was created by the panic surrounding the spreading infection is lost when blind victims are sequestered on their own in what appears to be an abandoned prison. For reasons that are completely unexplained and seem totally nonsensical, the government cruelly abandons them without any meaningful support or sufficient provisions.

From that point "Blindness" descends into a knock-off adult version of "The Lord of the Flies" (1990). After a rather feeble attempt at democratic cooperation fails, the inmates descend into a dismal miasma of chaos and anarchy. The strong soon become cruel, and madness reigns.

The talented Gael García Bernal, who has turned in wonderful performances in such movies as "Amores Perros" (2000); Y Tu Mama Tambien" (2001) and the "Motorcycle Diaries" (2003), is completely wasted here as a sick, demented psychopath who proceeds to brutally oppress and exploit the other inmates. While I know this depressing film wants to vividly display how societal restraints completely collapse when the only law is based on the survival of the fittest, most of the principal characters are so fundamentally wretched and debased that it is hard to care who lives and who dies.

Ms. Moore is an incredibly talented actress, as reflected by the fact that she is one of the few people ever to be Oscar nominated for best actress and best supporting actress in the same year. [Far From Heaven" and "The Hours" (2002)] However, in "Blindness" she continues her puzzling choice of appearing in questionable films that are beneath her talent. As an example, think about "The Forgotten" (2004), "Trust the Man" (2005) and "Freedomland" (2006).

The sad fact is that "Blindness" is largely a compilation of scenes of exaggerated excess that lacked the gritty realism of Rio De Janeiro's urban slums as seen in Meirelles' "City of God" or the authentic political tension so admirably displayed in his "The Constant Gardner." However, let's be charitable and give Mr. Meirelles a professional pass on this misfire, something that you probably should do if tempted to see it in the theater.